1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to computer network environments, and more specifically to the maintenance of receipt information regarding commercial transactions.
2. Description of Related Art
Many merchants now employ Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) which send invoices to customers over the Internet. Customers may then pay bills electronically via Web payment services in which they are enrolled. EBPP thus provides the customer with a personal account of bills payable. EBPP services may also provide links to information and support services that are not available with paper invoices. However, no equivalent service is provided for customer receipts.
Current business processes for Point of Sale (POS) generate a “hard-copy receipt” or “electronic receipt” for the customer for every purchase. This POS process also keeps receipts for the customers, merchants, and credit card companies (assuming the purchase was made with a credit card). Thus, the same receipt information is kept in multiple locations. However, this information is static and cannot be enhanced if additional information is necessary. In addition, customers have no control over the disposition of the receipt or the dissemination of the receipt information to third parties Current approaches also do not provide personal receipt accounts which customers may access.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have an electronic receipt service that enables customers to retrieve their electronic receipts and control the disposition of those receipts.